About 20 protesters, most of them senior citizens, gathered outside of Linda McMahon's campaign headquarters in North Haven on Monday to demonstrate against what they say is the Republican U.S. Senate candidate's desire to "sunset" Social Security and Medicare.
The protesters said they were reacting to comments McMahon made at a Tea Party forum in Waterford earlier this year. During the talk, the Greenwich resident — responding to a question about what could be done to strengthen the two entitlement programs — proposed adding a "sunset provision" to the Social Security Act.
A video and transcript of McMahon's comments at the April forum can be found on the Huffington Post.
Mary Moninger-Elia, a West Haven resident who helped organize Monday's demonstration, said McMahon's remarks earlier this year are not just worrying to her, but also to many other of her fellow senior citizens.
"Hopefully people will understand that Linda McMahon stands for getting rid of Social Security," Moninger-Elia told Patch. "Because that's what sunset means."
She added that seniors are not just concerned about their own immediate futures, but also that the Social Security safety net will be there for their own children and grandchildren.
"We're not greedy geezers," Moninger-Elia said.
"We want to see Social Security continue," she said.
McMahon and most of her North Haven-based campaign staff were at a rally in Danbury with U.S. Senator John McCain during Monday's protest.
But during a follow up phone call, McMahon's campaign spokesman Todd Arbajano told Patch that his candidate does not support cutting either program.
"Linda does not and will not support any budget that will cut funding for Social Security and Medicare for seniors," Arbajano said.
"And she will not support any move to privatize those programs either," he said.
Arbajano added that the campaign of McMahon's Democratic challenger, Chris Murphy, is attempting to mislead voters by distorting McMahon's positions on Medicare and Social Security.
"I find it disturbing that Chris Murphy is misrepresenting Linda's positions on these programs," he said.
